ICB EPROM Troubleshooting Shenanigans

Chained, incidental failures and complications.

When you go out to cut the grass but you realize you need to sharpen the blades first. While sharpening the blades, you trip the garage GFI and end up at the hardware store buying breakers and new outlets to totally rewire your garage. Leaving the hardware store you get a flat and realize you loaned your floor-jack out to Tim, down the street. Before you know it, you are coming in after a 16 hour day covered in dirt, grime with cuts on your hands and knees and receipts for $250 worth of receipts in your wallet.

You never did get around to cutting the grass.

My latest adventures in Ice Cold Beer, have spiraled into one of these scenarios. My game PCB is back in the capable hands of Mr. Chris Hibler. He’s busy and might not get to it until sometime around September. Thing is, the PCB has plenty of repairs on it already, plenty of oxidation & hot-cold strains on the board, it may not be salvageable. So I’ve had my ear to the ground for a replacement (better) PCB.

Finally, the heavens opened to reveal a $400 opportunity to get a “tested, with warranty” Ice Cold Beer board from a reputable source. I jumped on it. Seemed a lot for one board but I saw it as a shortcut to finally get my game going.

A couple of weeks later, proverbial Christmas Morning! The new board arrived in the mail. As part of the purchase I was offered the option for the free play rom and said “yeah, that sounds awesome.”

Unfortunately… my game has a different logic error now and that has set me down another chain of failures and complications.

I reached out to the source for the board and he advised that it might be that ROM and that I should do a ROM swap with our loaner PCB to see if it clears it up. Problem is, I don’t have access to any other PCB’s now. But hey, no worries - I have my trusty Pocket Programmer 3.

I got this. :/

At this point in thinking I can foresee two potential EPROM causes for a logic error related to U24 or U23. One would be as simple as a squirrelly hexedit job in the free play rom hack that could be resulting in this reboot. The other, could be stuck bit(s) on the EPROM itself. There are times when you can write to an EPROM and some bits don’t take the new code. Sometimes you can UV-Erase or partially address the buffer around those stuck bits but usually it is a trash-bin situation. Get a new / different chip.

I can also think of a number of non-game-rom related potential causes. A sketchy circuit on one of the scoring digits, a switch problem on the impacted hole, a problem with the controlled-lamp circuit for the next lamp (Hole 7). But for now we are going under the assumption it is game-rom related.

I’m no EPROM expert but I do tend to get excited when I find a use for this $269 tool. I’ve written some pinball sound roms and used it to validate some arcade roms in the 2 and half years that I’ve had it. I came to this particular EPROM programmer by recommendation of The Broken Token Pinball & Arcade Podcast.

The EPROMs in U23 and U24 are Mitsubishi 2764’s. I happened to have a couple similar chips on hand in the parts bin. Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of Mitsubishi sillicon, when I can - I try to use EPROMS and ROMS from ST Micro. I find them to be less.. fidgety and bonus points for having the programming voltage etched on them and lower programming voltage requirements. 2764 is a 8x8 (64bit) ROM. It is interchangeable in most applications with 27c64 which is still being manufactured, today.

The stars are lining up…. I have the tools, we have the technology, I have the relative know-how, I have the ROM files - time to go to work!

(DRAMATIC MUSIC SWELL)

WOMP WOMP WOMP

I noticed that the Pocket Programmer software had been updated since I used it last. The update process includes a firmware write to the device, which apparently has failed. Son of a….

However, the pocket programmer is still being recognized by the software (and with the updated firmware version) so I thought I would be clear to proceed. The first problem showed up as I read the buffer from the chip into a file (dumped the rom). That file - was 2k. It should have been 8k.

I then dropped the original ROM into my crappy chinese made UV eraser. After multiple attempts, the Chip wasn’t reading as erased… I ASSUMED this meant my crappy UV eraser was too crappy (it does have a fidgety drawer interlock). Time for better tools, I tell myself..

I find a BK Precision Model 851 EPROM eraser as an open-box deal for $120 off regular price and jump on it.

“MAIL CALL!” - It arrives… and the first time I use it the control knob (which it turns out did not match this device) breaks off.

I will not be beaten by plastic.

So, I designed a better knob and 3d printed it on nearly indestructible nylon.

So, now I can erase the ever-lovin’ crap out of a metric butt-ton EPROMS. Unfortunately, I’m still not able to get a clean programming or erasure cycle out of a couple of these Mitsu 2764’s. After experimenting with some known good 27c64’s and ST Micro 2764a’s, I land on the conclusion that my little Pocket Programmer 3 is indeed Fubar’d.

… and their email is no longer valid. Are we having fun yet?

As one does, I reach out to their support with a well detailed email, offering to pay for replacement or repair assistance..

Just to Recap

So, my ICB PCB has spent more time in the mail or in repair queues than in my game, working. I bought a umm….. replacement PCB w/ a 1 year warranty to act as a shortcut for $400ish. It crashes the game after counting the bonus on hole 6. At suggestion of the PCB repair / warranty holder, I attempted to replace my game rom. The EPROM programmer software bricked my EPROM programmer with a failed firmware update. The half-bricked EPROM programmer in turn has bricked (3) 2764 EPROMS. There was a small UV eraser ordeal. My $269 EPROM programmer is in the mail for a $120 repair job to a company that I’m not even sure is still in business.

If you’ve made it this far, I know what you are probably thinking:

Dude, just get some game ROMS preprogrammed from someone already.

Well…. that IS a good idea. So, that’s why weeks ago before any of this I reached out to my usual trusted source for quality pinball game ROMS. Unfortunately, he thought Ice Cold Beer was a video game. No help there.

Also, ordered 2 ROM sets from a seller on eBay weeks ago. I guess that they are coming to Alabama by way of Shangri-La on the back of a mule. Estimated delivery date is August 11th & no tracking is available.

Asked about ICB Roms, got this back. No help there.

Ice Cold Beer game roms from an eBay source.

All of these ROM/ EPROM shenanigans and there is a definite non-zero chance that the situation that is tripping the WatchDog timer and bouncing the machine is related to power transfer somewhere else on the PCB. Scoring digit circuit, hole flasher, etc..

Next up and because there is apparently no limit on my AMEX when juxtaposed with my impatience, I ordered a GQ-4X because I’m relatively certain it will be weeks (or more) before I hear anything about my PP3. I’m hopeful once it arrives I’ll be able to get the game ROM settled…. but this is 2020…

8/6/2020 Update - The stars sort of aligned on 8/5. The eBay acquired EPROMS, the GQ-4x AND the loaner / test ICB PCB all landed in my lap to help to do some troubleshooting.

Gq-4X FTW

First up a nod to the GQ-4x4. It arrived on time (though shipping to the US from Canada is really expensive right now). Have used both the Pocket Programmer 3 and the GQ-4x4 I have to say I much prefer the GQ-4x. The software on the PP3 is a bit more barebones, minimal and feels like a DOS app that is running in a Window through some compatibility layers. Because, well - it is. I had gotten used to the PP3 software and it was familiar to me having grown up in tech through the DOS/BBS days, Pascal and ASM programming, etc.

But… the GQ-4x software seems to be a bit more Windows-native. It still doesn’t look like a modern app but it will be more familiar to some folks that grew up in the Win95/98/2k Reich. It installed easily and worked immediately, for the most part. It seems like the GQ-4x had a more comprehensive or at least more helpful device list. It has a favorites-list which I think is a nice touch.

One caveat, though.

The GC-4X didn't include the power adapter and even though the documentation implies you don't need it if you are using a powered USB hub - you probably do need it for some chips. Some of these 2764's take 21v for programming. Hard to get that out of a USB hub. 

Specs for that are: 9V output, Center Positive, Anything over 400mah
- (Incidentally it is the same power brick as a Sega Genesis if you have any retro consoles laying around.)

So on one hand I wasted a ton of time on EPROM stuff with this game but on the other hand, I have the capacity to erase the EPROMs for an entire village at one time if the need every arises and I shored up my toolset a bit, so I guess some of this is tuition, right? right..?

Back to the task at hand

Armed with a known good EPROM reader / writer, some known good chips and a loaner PCB I was able to do more troubleshooting and situational inventory. I found that my PP3 was really borked. Many of the chips that didn’t read as erased, were in fact erased and reusable. I got verified Erase-Write cycles out of all but one. I found that of the 2 sets of ROMS I ordered from the eBayer above - one of the sound ROMS arrived blank. The chip was fine, though I was able to restore a sound rom dump for ICB back to it.

More importantly and perhaps depressingly, I was able to determine that my ICB PCB’s hole-6 restart was not related directly to logic in the Free-Play ROM. The 6th hole restart persisted on this board between the factory ROM and the ROMS from the loaner PCB. Further, the loaner PCB let me run through ten holes without a restart. I sent back the ICB PCB for further testing and investigation.
My suspicion is that the U39 WatchDog Timer is tripping following the bonus counter on hole 6. At first I thought it might be related to the playfield display board and voltage required to light an additional digit but watching the video, I didn’t go from 800 to 1200 on hole six, the thousand digit was already lit by hole five. With a little less frustration and clarity, I’m guessing the problem exists in the circuit for hole 7, specifically it is a controlled-lamps power issue… maybe….?

Looking at that schematic, assuming I’m reading it correctly, maybe there is a D7 that could cause. it. But I honestly can barely make this out / don’t remember what it looks like.

Looking at that schematic, I guess it could be U15 or a bad leg (2 or 15) on U15. Could also be C80 or C19, I suppose. The Ferrite Bead wouldn’t be bad I wouldn’t think but maybe a disturbed trace along the way. I’m not seeing a resistor in that schematic but I suspect the blinking action occurs as the result of a 1/4watt resistor paired with one of those caps and maybe a drive transistor somewhere. Hopefully it will be something simple and repeatable and not a “in this cabinet only” sort of bug. At any rate, it is headed back to the hands of a capable professional and I have faith he will find and settle the 6/7 restart.

In the meantime

While I’m board-less I’m going to spend some time redoing the edge connectors with fresh leaf pins, so I can eliminate any edge-to-card connector voltage shenanigans for future problems. I’ve noticed some issues with engagement that seems to change depending on the orientation of the PCB in the cabinet. Might as well eliminate those potential future problems while I wait..

The Importance of Setup: Indy Adjustments

I’ve noticed lately that my Indy gameplay has been a bit of a struggle. This is weird because for over a year I played Indy every morning, almost as if it were a ritual. Get up - > do hygiene thing -> take the kids to school -> get coffee-> Play Indy -> get more coffee -> Log in / go to work.

Now, I can’t hit anything and worse, I can start a mode if my life depended on it. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Pinside has the usual ratio of buttholes suggesting you Google before posting a question, mixed with a potential fix that involves yet-another-$5 thing that isn’t in stock anywhere.

(Also, I found that via Google, so… good job internet forum snake for eating your own figurative tail.)

I event went so far as to design a rail and ball-stop brake pad to be printed on TPU95.

3D print file here, if you want it.

I have a playfield protector and a Cliffy but the mode-scoop start issues didn’t start until recently and both have been installed for awhile. Once I got the POA off, you can see in the pic above what was happening. Over time, the Cliffy had actually moved. Which.. kinda / shouldn’t happen with the adhesive on it - but it did. So, the ball would hit the ball stop and deflect back down but the front edge of the scoop was partially obstructed by the Cliffy.

The solution was to pull the Cliffy, re-flatten it on a vice. I slotted the screw holes in the Cliffy to allow more forward placement, put new adhesive on it (3m spray adhesive on a paper plate, then brush on), re-center and re-install it.

I also re-leveled the game while the glass was off, it was leaning a smidge to the right.

Huge difference right?

Do the Flynn Thing

This was done with Alexa Routines but there are similar features on Google Home (Routines) and HomeKit (Shortcuts).

A large prerequisite to this is the presence of SmartPlugs to handle the power on for your machines.

I’ve got an older post on smart plug, you can check it out, here:
http://arcadeshenanigans.com/blog/2018/2/13/smart-plugs-a-year-later

The obvious downside to the smart plug approach used here is expensive and network population, having 36 Wemo plugs means 36 IP addresses to allocate, 36 Netbios names to configure, if Siri integration is wanted, 36 HomeKit setups to complete. Wemo plugs can have setup and support frustrations, as do their competitors.

One incidental upshot to this approach is that it is a solve for the breaker instant-load issue you might get from flipping a physical master switch. If you flip a giant red ghostbusters containment unit looking power handle, electricity is flowing out at nearly the speed of light, in an instant. That could be a lot of load to introduce on a breaker panel all at once.

By comparison, each cloud-connected smart switch is going to take at least 120ms of roundtrip network traffic before it closes the circuit and passes power. Everything isn’t turning on at once. It seems like it is but the delay is enough to provide a curve to the load application.

Anyway… Been spending some time in the evening during the quarantine getting the games squared away and making tweaks to the automation. The Alexa routines provided a nice way to move management of the plugs away from the Wemo Rules engine and into the Alexa voice services where we are already pretty well invested as a household.

Stay safe, be smart, don’t trust everything you read.. oh and um… thanks for reading. :)

Monster Bash (again)

This pattern of re-buying games I once had continues…

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I never really find the excellent deals but I’ve been pretty fortunate to have found some good ones here and there. Back in February 2020 I was following a couple posts on Facebook and a Discord chat about one of those dream-warehouses that you sometimes hear about in this hobby. It had all of the usual elements, “Operator trove on private property, mostly unmolested. The property owner is one of those guys that only opens it up every now and then to let a small number of people in with a limit on what they can carry out. He only does it when he needs cash for something.”

..or so the legend goes, anyway.

In the course of my research I didn’t find the National Treasure like-map to get me into this fabled lost city of abandoned amusements.

But I did find a pretty darned fair deal on a Monster Bash along Florida’s Sun Coast.

The seller was reasonable and easy to work with and no complaints whatsoever on his description of the game. The logistics of getting the game to me, was somewhat of an adventure thanks to COVID shutdowns but everyone involved did everything in their power to make it work out.

On May 3rd, the game landed safely in Spanish Fort by way of Bob C’s capable hands.

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So begins another pin restoration..

The initial condition is honestly better than I had expected. Considering my last Monster Bash cost nearly twice what this one did, my expectations were tuned in the “rough player’s” range. Really, though there was nothing major wrong with the game.

A couple minor playfield flaws that will be relatively easy to fix:

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A small ding in the playfield, through the clear and into the wood. Maybe a dropped screwdriver or corner of something sharp

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Ball eject dings from the scoop kickout.

It looks as though someone repaired the cabinet at some point but they did an excellent job. The only reason it stands out is that the back of the cabinet is too clean by comparison to the rest.

I added an LED ColorDMD, new balls and Titan rubbers. Always a good practice because you will discover broken or missing plastics along the way. One pop bumper body needs to be replaced and a couple minor, easy to acquire plastic workarounds were in place.

The first thing I ever 3D printed for myself..

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Favoring BallBaron.com Ninja Chrome lately

During initial play testing, the right orbit was particularly frustrating to make. I kept getting bounces and thought at first that it might be the right orbit switch gate interfering with travel. Recording a slow motion flip from the left flipper, revealed something unexpected, though.

It looks like there is a lip at the drac track where the play field has a light sag or warp.

I ran across this pinside post, it looks like some early Monster Bash games didn’t include a bracket. I don’t know if they increased the ply of the play field or just bracketed later releases, I’m guessing they probably just included the bracket on later runs.

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The bracket needed to fix this is here:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/01-15202

Thing is, I really didn’t want to wait four or five days and not be able to play so I drew a temporary bracket up in Shapr3D and 3D printed a prototype. I also didn’t want to be wandering around Lowes aimlessly during the COVID stuff looking for a comparable generic Hillman bracket.

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I drew a measurement across the existing play field posts to use as the mounting hole and used them to reconstruct a rough approximation of the bracket. My angle was a little sloppier with regard to not being parallel with the play field edge but for a 15 minute design and 1 hr print, it turned out workable.

The result was better but not perfect, at least the game was playable until the real bracket came in. If you have the need, you can get the print and design files for this, here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zpv9piturosdl3c/AACfUkVbhDMFmnN2Pmg_ReaSa?dl=0

The real thing is of course considerably better, being made of steel and much more rigid. I went back and slightly modified my original design to make it a bit more stiff when printed on PLA or TPLA.

I’m definitely not condoning the printed version as an alternative to the awesome metal bracket, I just personally was too impatient to wait and had 3D filament burning a hole in my pocket.

Next up, lit flipper buttons and mirror blades..

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Glass Corners (3D Print Stuff)

My basement floor is a nightmare hell-scape for pinball glass. The hardest of hard concretes with a rough brushed finish. I haven't broken a sheet yet but I'm always skiddish of the coming shard-po-calypse when I do.

You don’t eat yellow snow, you don’t eat tug on superman’s cape and * you never buy pinball glass in single sheets.
* Unless maybe Invisiglass or PDI Glass where you can reasonably only afford one at a time.

I usually try to bring home spare sheets of playfield glass from Marco when attending SFGE. When ordering by mail, Pinball Life has shipping pinball glass down to a science. Shipped two-at-a-time, they are well padded with ginormous foam corners. Those foam corners are great for shipping but at roughly 4in wide by 6in length, they are overkill for storing spare sheets.

I found this clever 3D print design for a compact but effective solution for pinball glass corners. He designed the print to be used with TPU95A filament, which is a rubbery-plastic about the consistency of a dog bone chew-toy. The design worked well in that it grips the glass and provides a little cushion in a compact size.

TPU95A is the way to go for these. For invisiglass I might scale up by an inch or two in length and height but keep the same thickness for grip. If you print them on PLA, you will want to scale them up as well, uniform scale of 115% will do the truck. I understand the drive to use PLA, I’ve received glass with plastic corners before but if you have TPU available - go that route.

Thanks to 80sPinTech for a good design!

Hobby Tools Finding a New Use

As an avid listener of The Broken Token Arcade and Pinball Podcast I’ve enjoyed following Brent’s adventures into getting into 3D Printing and Vacuum forming. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see how the ability to make your own parts at home can be handy.

I’ve had an eye on 3D printing for hobby usage back since a really insightful article from Microsoft Developer Blogger, Scott Hanselman back in 2015.

My takeaway from both, broadly, was that 3D printing would be a massive time suck. Who has time for that?

Well, it turns out we are quarantined at home now and my social calendar just freed up for 30-90 days. Time to jump in.

Three different printers had my eye.

Budget Conscious: Creality CR-10S

I see lots of forum posts where people struggled to get started with the Creality CR-10 and CR-10s printers.

“Please refer to the 50 page sticky post about common setup issues and how to solve them”

Once running and once the material specifics are worked out, most owners seemed thrilled with their choice, though. Almost to the point of shilling for the machine and overlooking minor flaws.

Pros:
Nice Entry Price (~$500)
Impressive build surface ~(12.75 x 12.75 x 15.5) inches

Cons:
Kit-built
Easy but fidgety assembly and setup
Machine footprint, Spool placement
Looks like the offspring of an erector set and Johnny 5

Middle of the Road: Prusa i3 MK3S

Time and time again the only bad thing I could find about the Prusa MK3S was that it wasn’t a major change from its predecessor. Usually with a footnote of “but we can’t really think of anything we’d like changed” though. The Prusa came up time and time-again as the winner amongst Maker enthusiasts in posts and articles, based on my research.

Pros:
Reasonably priced (~$750)
Good (but slightly compromised) build surface ~(9.8 x 8.2 x7.8) inches
Flexible options, available as pre-built or as a kit
Good Software
Exceptional reputation amongst enthusiasts, known to be a workhorse

Cons:
Occasional failures on long prints
Still has the erector-set aesthetic.

The ”All In” Option: Ultimaker 2+ or 3

The Ultimaker was the only one that seemed to offer a hassle free setup process from the beginner’s perspective. Most of my research landed on “we love it but it costs too much” as the shared consensus amongst Maker enthusiasts. The Ultimaker machines support NFC chips installed in the Ultimaker material spools. This means that the machine has built in profiles for Ultimaker materials and automatically adjusts by reading the NFC from the installed spool. It seemed to me that the vast majority of bad prints come from improperly calibrated settings in respect to material type, so extension of that logic is:

Foolproof material settings means less fouled prints.

Pros:
Easy setup
Comes pre-assembled
Well-supported by manufacturer
Parts availability
Automated print settings when used with Ultimaker Materials
Gold-Standard in Slicing Software (Cura)
Helpful companion apps for iOS and Android (monitor prints, reprint, pause - resume

Cons:
Highly priced (UM2+ is $2500, UM3 is $3500)
Slightly smaller build surface ~(8 x 8.5 x 8) inches
More expensive parts and consumables

Ultimaker 3

After much deliberation I went with a refurbished Ultimaker 3.

I chose the Ultimaker line (among other reasons) because it seemed like a more self-contained machine, something I’d be apt to just leave set up on my desk. I chose the UM3 specifically because it was Wifi capable, supported dual-extrusion: the ability to print with two materials at once. I chose refurbished because of parts availability, factory warranty and because my Amex reward points only go so far. :)

Software Stuff

Slicing

Slicing is the process of ingesting a model and material properties and building a print plan for the printer to follow. (GCode File)
If you’ve ever done professional publishing where you send off print-ready file formats to the publisher - this is basically the same thing, at the high level anyway. Ultimaker Cura is a gold standard solution for Slicing, it is made by Ultimaker and is free even if you aren’t using Ultimaker printers. Having a 1st class slicing experience contributed to my decision to fork out the extra dough for an Ultimaker printer.

Design

SolidWorks is the Gold Standard Engineering and design solution. At $3400/year for the Standard edition, I can’t even consider this right now. <Closes Tab>

Tinkercad is an awesome solution for building printable 3D models. Schools often use it in STEM or Gifted labs as an introduction to engineering and design concepts.. It is cross platform and has AutoDesk support behind the product. It’s also free. The limitations will come in on high-polygon count or heavily complex models as well as certain import interpolations. But for simple 3D printing, TInkercad is the goto.

If you have an iPad and Apple Pencil, Shapr3D is very powerful middle-of-the-road option.

Shapr3D shares the same solid modeling Engine as SolidWorks (Siemens Parasolid™). It is iPad-only and requires the Apple Pencil but since I’m an iOS and Android Developer I didn’t have to look far for an iPad to commit to this use. The software is free to try and is about $240/year for the pro version. $1 apps might make that seem like a lot but taking in the app’s powerful foundation, level of polish, performance and extensive training library - $240/year sounds like a bargain to me.

Future versions will support object import via the iPad Pro’s new LiDAR camera. (There are videos of this in beta available on Youtube). So, I’m using a combination of TinkerCard and Shapr3D for modeling work.

The Tools are Here, Now What?

This is the point in this story where I’d normally be showing you 3D printed realized objects created from scratch in service of the pinball and arcade hobby. Things like that hard-to-find coil bracket for Ice Cold Beer or 3D printed unobtainium replacements like the Data East Star Wars Death Star plastic that I once paid $175 for.

But first, the ongoing global pandemic and the shortage of PPE have me focused on trying to be helpful in some small way in aiding those efforts.

Make the Masks

The Montana Mask is a 3D-printed mask initiative started by three medical professionals and tested at a clinic in Billings, Montana. The design includes a two-part reusable mask with a place for a filter insert.

Complex prints with overhangs and suspensions will be printed with scaffolding or support material (dissolvable or break-away). This mask design was clever in that it attempts to keep the angles shallow enough to prevent the need for support material, decreasing print times. Currently I’m at about 4 hrs to print each mask at a reasonable quality. I add window seal from MD Building Products, which is a super-awesome company - they donated two cases to me for this cause. Finally, I add in filter material: Flowmark Filters if you can get them. Blue shop towels or tripled up coffee filters can also work.

Stack o’ Completed Masks from Easter Afternoon

Other Opportunities to Help

In addition to masks there are clever initiatives for creating face-shields, respirator parts, ventilator valves and more.
It’ll be neat to get to work on the printer in the future for more entertaining purposes but for now, it whirls away 18 hours a day making stuff related to the pandemic, trying to show appreciation and aid protection for those who aren’t as fortunate as I am to be able to shelter in place and play on the computer all day.

If you know of any front-line medical workers or first-responders with a need for parts that I can print, reach out to me by email and I’ll get something sent your way.

Pandemic Risk Mitigation & Pinball-Arcade Expos

I normally don’t care to comment about current events, politics or the Headline Du Jour publicly. I’ll deploy that overused and probably mis-attributed Einstein quote:

Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity.

Plus, this particular site and the majority of my facebook and twitter feeds are optimized, generally for fun and nerdy things. Global health crises, partisan politics, market economics and people typing vigorously over to the top of one another regarding the kerfuffle of the day: These are all decidedly not fun, for me anyway.

But.. this blog for me acts as a record for hobby posterity and I suspect that in the same way that large-scale geological events can be sussed out from sedimentary rock layers on Earth, I think it is possible that the current Novel Coronavirus will leave its mark on our arcade and pinball hobby long after the current health crisis and related (justified or not) hysteria have passed.

At the time of this post, the Coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 and related infection COVID-19 are the headlines of every major news organization on the planet. Sure, the partisan finger pointing is in there too. American criticism of Chinese Wet Markets, thought to be the origin for the disease and all of the partisan finger pointing that have become the new normal for us here in the States. The late night comedians are having their fun with it, the financial markets are freaked out by it and people are starting to stockpile food, hand soaps, sanitizer, lysol, paper towels and toilet paper. Why toiler paper? I don’t really know..

..and somewhere, right now people are feeling real pain and loss and real fear for their loved ones in higher-risk cohorts. I wouldn’t begin to trivialize their loss or think myself immune to being touched in some way by it.

As of 3/11/2020 122,205 active known infections. 1,002 of those in the United States.

Heat maps like this, predictably always become population density maps. As of today, no known confirmed cases have arisen in my home state of Alabama but I have no doubt the virus is already in our community. Hell, my neighbors were on the Diamond Princess maybe a week before the infected passengers that were quarantine. Not everyone gets tested (most probably do not) and the tests themselves have a poor reliability record. it doesn’t help that the pollen index in our part of the south is 10.5 (out of 12) and COVID-19 early symptoms are shared with seasonal allergies.

Given these factors, I suspect that the public numbers of infected trend lower-than-actual which means the fatality estimates are probably trending higher-than-actual. But, I’m not a health expert, just someone with some BI experience looking at cold numbers with an eye for risks to accuracy.

So how does this all come back to the hobby?

Typical Crowd you might see around arcades at a Con. (This was AWS Re:Play party in Las Vegas)

As of the time of this writing, South by Southwest in Austin has been cancelled. A delay of the Summer Olympics is being considered. Near my career, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and Google IO in May are all cancelled. Apple is internally evaluating if they will hold WWDC in June.

Shanghai Disney has been closed since January 25. Tokyo Disney closed on February 29th.

Update: 3/12/2020 - It was just announced that Disney Land will be temporarily shutting down.

Currently, Disney World hasn’t announced a closure plan but I suspect that might change as things progress.

It might seem trivial but,

When Disney closes. You should pay attention.

NBA Season has stopped. NCAA March Madness has been stopped.

International flight restrictions are increasing.

Louisville Arcade Expo just completed.

Update 3/12/2020: Texas Pinball Festival was cancelled this afternoon.

There’s Pinfest, Golden State & Rocky Mountain Expos in May, Northwest & Pintastic in June. Southern Fried Gameroom expo in July.

What impact might cancellations (voluntary or otherwise) have on our favorite Pinball & Arcade expos and the vendors that rely on them?

The answer is: Probably a lot.

SFGE 2018 Crowds

I had some interest in co-founding a gulf-coast arcade and pinball festival, so I’ve spent some time in the last few years talking with event organizers and they all tell a pretty similar story. These shows often start with a generous financial benefactor and/or sheer willpower and volunteer effort. They then grow (often modestly) year over year with this year’s ticket sales barely covering next year’s venue fees.

Show-goers have a tendency to think that these expos are giant financial successes based on anecdotal observation and attendance numbers. They are really more often made viable only through extraordinary effort year after year from the organizers. “Just enough to keep going” is the theme I often hear.

I think there is inordinate pressure on show organizers and hotels to keep the events going whenever possible. But I also predict that in the wake of a mass-spread illnesses like this will generate mounting pressure for cancellations. At this point, I consider every pinball show through summer to be iffy. Yeah, I know: serious bummer.

I urge that we all be patient with the show organizers of your favorite pinball / arcade expos in the coming weeks and months and try to be flexible. We are all in this together and we will get through it and be back to normal before you know it. :)

Update 3/12: Kaneda’s Pinball Podcast Predicts TPF will be cancelled in the first part of his podcast today.

RetroStone 2 Follow-Up (Video)

A month later, I took at look at how RetroStone 2 is progressing. It has come a long way!